IF you haven’t heard of it yet, get ready to grapple with the “glycemic index”, the latest wrinkle in the endless diet debate. On the surface, the glycemic index is a simple concept – a way to measure how much blood sugar rises two hours after eating carbohydrates. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic rating, like cake with icing, trigger huge, rapid spikes in blood sugar, followed by steep spikes in insulin, the hormone that escorts sugar into cells. Carbohydrates with low glycemic ratings, like whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, trigger more modest, slower rises.
The basic idea is that high-glycemic carbohydrates are bad because they leave the stomach quickly and trigger the rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin, which is soon followed by a crash in blood sugar that prompts renewed hunger. The result can be more calories consumed and more weight gained.
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